There are so many things that can transform a neighborhood -- money, noise, traffic, business, new homes, old homes, people.

It probably comes as no great revelation that a killing is one of those things.

Consider,
for example, the neighborhood where they found the body. They found it
not far from the water tower in a tangle of bushes and weeds.

I
can’t remember anymore exactly how it was found -- the exact time, the
circumstances, how the finder stumbled across it. What I do remember are
the rumors that attended its discovery. What I remember are the police
cruisers, the gathering crowd and the ambulance with its ominous,
unblinking lights.

Things unfolded slowly. After all, there was no
rush, not anymore. What had been a quiet, wooded area was now a crime
scene, waiting with studied patience to be secured and searched.

Word
spread like a crackling, slow fire through the neighborhood, traveling
from house to house, and the residents came out in droves. Certainly it
wasn’t the specter of a decomposing body that drew them out of their
homes.

I think what lured them outside was the specter of
transformation. The way they regarded their surroundings, the way they
saw the very universe, the way they looked at their neighbors, even the
way they thought of their own homes -- all that was about to change.

What happen to Jenifer Granholm's PROJECT SAFE
NEIGHBORHOOD LAW!!!i think it went into law in 2001 for gun cases or
possession of bullets you get charged with federal gun laws. Federal gun
charges are min 6years in prison with over 90% conviction rate, if these
young adults knew theire brother, uncle, cousin, dad, mom,or family member
got 6 years just for their picture on YouTube with a gun, they would stop
carrying illegal gun around and making YouTube videos with proof of
that.

How does violence affect a community and what can be done? Share your thoughts here or return to the original conversation.